Caring for the children

Had a wonderful dinner at my mom’s last night with our dear friend, Father Angelos Sebastian. Some may remember when I wrote about him here: http://articles.hbindependent.com/2013-10-14/opinion/tn-hbi-me-1017-pipeline-20131014_1_india-orphanage-return-trip

My family met Sebastian when had been with St. Bonaventure in Huntington Beach. He has since moved over to Blessed Sacrament Church in Westminster. Ask anyone here who ever saw him preach, and you’ll discover quickly the impact he has made on this community.

He is not just a man of faith, but also a man of hope. We talked lat night about the orphanage he founded recently in his homeland of India. To date he has more than 150 children he is caring for there, and his efforts grow each day. In India, 25 million children live on the streets.

He told me years ago, “I grew up seeing children on the streets begging for food. People would chase them away, mistreat them, abuse them. It always caused a pain my heart to see so many children with no parents to love them and no food, education or future. They spend all day and night on the street, subject to every form of abuse you can imagine.”

In January 2012, he took a group to visit a site in India that he thought might be just right for the orphanage. And today in Rajasthan, in northwestern India, the orphanage is thriving.

You can visit www.OrphanChildrenOfIndia.org for more information on what he is doing for the children of India. Or go see him preach at Blessed Sacrament. Thank you to this remarkable man and good friend of the community.